Sustainability
We aim to improve and help protect people's lives in our value chain and wider society. At its heart, this means doing the right thing – when conducting business, how we behave as employees and treat our workforce, and the expectations we place on our business partners. We want to be a force for good and have a positive impact on people and society.
Our commitment: foster the strong ethical culture within our company.
We aim to ensure equality, protect our people, educate and encourage sustainable behaviour.
We aim to safeguard human rights and ensure responsible business conduct throughout the value chain.
We aim to contribute to a sustainable society by collaborating with stakeholders, investing sustainably and helping to protect the most vulnerable in society.
A new global people standard
The Family Bond by Volvo Cars - Equal global parental leave for all.
The Family Bond by Volvo Cars is our all-gender global paid parental leave policy – with this, we give all Volvo Cars employees with at least one year's service 24 weeks of parental leave at 80 per cent of their base pay by default.
This global policy applies to either parent and is suited for a diverse variety of family types, as it includes adoptive, foster care and surrogate parents, as well as non-birth parents in same-sex couples.
A culture where we all belong
We're global and we embrace it by creating a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture that brings out the best in our people. We thrive on being a mixing pot of different ideas, experiences, backgrounds and personalities – this sparks creativity and innovation. Being open to all perspectives, with diverse and inclusive teams in place to make better quality decisions, is critical to our ongoing success.
Employee health and wellbeing
We aim to be a leader in supporting the health and wellbeing of our employees. We achieved a LTCR (Loss Time Case Rate – injury rate) of just 0.07 in 2022. And we believe we can do better. That's why we aim to reduce that to 0.04 by 2025 and 0.02 by 2030. We're always committed to safeguarding human rights throughout our value chain globally, via risk-based due-diligence processes to trace, identify, assess and address human rights risks.
Reducing impact on people and planet
We're serious about wanting to reduce our impact on people and planet and we know our responsibility extends beyond our own walls. The what, how and where from - must be accounted for when we calculate our impacts. We aim for transparency and traceability throughout our supply chain. For example, we use Blockchain technology as part of our commitment to the responsible sourcing of batteries.
Traceability in supply chains
We recognise that the supply chains of the raw materials used for batteries are complex and associated with environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks. Establishing traceability is a prerequisite for addressing these risks and building responsible supply chains, as it allows us to identify the suppliers in our supply chain and assess their ESG-performance and promote good practice.
Responsible sourcing of batteries
We're committed to responsible sourcing of our batteries. As part of that commitment, we were the first car manufacturer to use blockchain technology in our cobalt supply chain, allowing us to trace the cobalt used in our batteries, from the mine to the car. Since then, we have continued the implementation of blockchain to lithium and nickel as well as tracking of carbon emissions in the battery supply chain. In addition, we run an audit program to ensure that suppliers in the cobalt, lithium and nickel supply chains are conformant with relevant standards and frameworks and to ensure continuous improvement of ESG-performance across our battery supply chain.
What is blockchain technology?
Forest Stewardship Council certified wood
For Volvo Cars it is important to reduce our impact on the planet and we aim for transparency and traceability in our supply chains. In our Volvo EX90 we are using FSC certified wood (FSC™ N004117) in the cabin deco panels. FSC shows that the product comes from responsible sources that are environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests.
Reporting channel
Our Compliance and Ethics programme is an enabler that promotes responsible business. It’s our guide to prevent and detect misbehaviour and mitigate legal and ethical risks – in particular in the areas of corruption, anti-trust, data protection, trade sanctions and export control. Our confidential, secure Tell Us reporting line allows employees to report any suspected violation of Our Code.
Sustainable financing
The financial community has a vital role to play in accelerating the transition to a low carbon economy. We want to support their growing focus on sustainable investment. Our Green Financing Framework aligns our sustainability strategy with financing opportunities that lead to a positive impact on our shared environment and society. The Framework is aligned with both the ICMA Green Bond Principles (GBP) and the LMA Green Loan Principles (GLP).
By mid-decade, we aim to have 100 per cent of our debt linked to our Green Financing Framework or in a sustainability-linked format.
We use the proceeds for strategic projects in clean transportation: increasing our fully electric cars production capacity and battery assembly; and for research and development of zero emissions vehicles, new electric powertrains and platform technology.
Policy influence
At Volvo Cars, we’ve been actively supporting policy development across a wide range of topics – including policies aiming to accelerate the transition to zero emission vehicles. We actively support the drive for change in areas such as charging infrastructure development, availability of renewable energy, payment standardisation, charging interface standardisation, research support, incentives and taxation, as well as overall ambition levels.
You’re welcome to read more about our policy contributions, and how we approach our other responsibilities, in the Documents section below.
Downloads
You're welcome to access below documents to learn more about Volvo Cars position on important sustainability topics.
Code of conduct